Buying frenzy - POV

SallyS

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I have managed to survive a frenzy of instrument buying and wanted to offer a bit of info for newbies.
My personal purchases are all required to speak to me - even if for a family member, but I adapt.

Having been in multiple retailers and seen literally hundreds of ukes along the way, there is still no substitute for my eyes and hands. I have seen lousy examples of most brands - and excellent examples of most brands. I have heard sour notes, flat dead boxes, and splitting fretboards. I have seen plenty. I have been asked very stupid questions as well.

This latest wave was for the grandkids, but it resulted in an expansion of my own collection.

I am a Uke beginner, but a guitar oldie. The ear works better than the hands.
I tried plastic, then the uber cheap and continued upwards until my ear heard clarity. Perfection for a six year old is less critical than for some, but the ear sets and it was needed to get a reasonable instrument for the $. From fifty to seventy... Up...

I found some really uncontrolled making, downright sloppy with some makers. Others managed to be neat and still sound awful. The variances were interesting. What I thought was wanted, was not. What I got was right.

We all know that out of several identical makes, we will find a favorite. We all know that we can be surprised if we close our eyes. Sometimes the ʻeyesʻ have it.

I found brands that I wonʻt touch. I found that if you seek perfection - you will pay. Nope, not surprised.

In the past few weeks I bought four Sopranos, a tenor 8 and a Concert, none identical and all sweet. This could have been a hot mess.

It paid off that I did not blindly go to a drop shipper and I highly suggest doing same.
 
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Thanks for sharing.

Good for you being so diligent and putting in the effort to find something worthy of taking home and/or gifting to a newbie.
 
Unfortunately, some people, myself included, don't have any nearby retailers. :(

We have to use the internet, & this is where other peoples experiences come in very handy. :)

It's not quite buying blindly, but could be hit & miss, luckily mine have been OK, by sticking with respected manufacturers. ;)
 
To the OP - Thanks for sharing.

To uke1950 - I share your frustration. Locally we have a few shops that stock ukuleles. Most of these shops seem to focus on entry level, at least the ones I visit. One shop has higher end stuff, out of reach for guys like me.

The middle ground is rather sparse. I did get very lucky last August and bought a Kala KA-ACP-CTG locally. I consider this a decent mid-range uke. It sounds good to me anyway, and it plays well too.

I too have bought on-line, e-bay and UU marketplace, which can be a gamble. So far I've been very lucky, but I've stuck to mainstream brands with good reputations.
 
My point here is that even the ʻgoodʻ names have duds, all price points - & I found quite a few. Some would have made cute clocks and some better suited as doorstops.
Had I ordered them I doubt my satisfaction.
I found some sloppy workmanship and some beauties. Sound tops it all in my book, so I have a couple that needed help out of the gate - my choice. I will take visual flaws over ʻsounds lousyʻ any day. I found plenty that looked good and sounded bad.


Unless I ordered via a retailer who does set ups and literally goes over them. I would not just find brand x and order blindly, because it is a gamble. Check the return policy - yes, I have ordered online, and return fees often equal gas/time/b.s. factor. Itʻs only worth what it is worth to you.
If you have to put faith in a retailer, then find a retailer you can trust. There are some excellent sources here on AGF

Do your homework.
 
I'd advise everybody to never buy from amazon or any other box shifting companies. I live in the middle of nowhere, a ferry ride and a couple of hours from the nearest retailer that has a good cross section of ukes so buy all mine online and have had some serious rubbish from Amazon and the likes in the early days. Any music shops closer to me basically have a stack of Squier guitars and maybe a makala, Stagg or Lanikai laminate ukes, no variety in sizes, woods etc..

In the UK there are two great sellers, omega music and southern ukulele store who will talk you through your purchase, find what you want and will even source the best uke you can get for your given budget. They'll set them up for you to your requirements and allow you to return them for a refund or exchange if you're not happy with it, changed your mind or just realised you made the wrong choice. Buying online has been a dream since I found both of these stores.

I bought a couple of cheap sopranos for my kids from one of these stores and got an email from them to say "sorry we can't send your order out today as planned, during setup we noticed the intonation was off from the 7th fret so we'll set up and test a new one and despatch tomorrow, hope you don't mind the delay". Both ukes were under £50 but still got a setup, play test and QC. I call that an amazing level of service.

People always seem to go for the cheapest option and while your dream uke may be £5, £10 or even £20 cheaper on Amazon, you won't be getting the service, setup or quality control you get with a specialist retailer like those I mentioned above. Without this level of detail and care from an online seller you could easily (as happened to me with my first amazon uke) end up with an unplayable nightmare of an instrument that is nigh on impossible to rectify or return.
 
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Exactly why everyone should only purchase from good reputable dealers like The Ukulele Site/Hawaii Music Supply, MIM's Ukes, Uke Republic, etc. It reduces this "risk" immensely.
 
Cobainpain is right.
Had I ordered all the ukes that I recently chosen this could have been disastrous, but if I had done so via a truly trusted company the possibility for satisfaction increases. When in a store and I find duds, it makes me suspicious of a maker and a retailer. For me it was a real treat to be able to do things the way I did, but it's not always possible.
 
I have purchased mostly custom ukes which are never available to play. There are some things you can do to protect yourself so you are not stuck with something you don't like. Ask for a 5 day guarantee that if you do not like the uke for ANY reason, you can return the uke and pay the return shipping. This of course is mostly possible from a private buyer but I have known luthiers to guarantee the same but only if there is nothing personalized on it such as names or a specific inlay item that may limit its attraction to other buyers.

i have purchased several Ukes locally from ukuleke dealers and those were production Ukes which concern me more than customs. Being able to play those is very important but again you may be able to negotiate a very short trial period with you paying return shipping.

Now, here is the nightmare story I experienced. Over 20 custom Ukes purchased from private buyers I only got burned once but learned a lesson. I purchased a Willian King long scale 19 inch tenor. It's a beautiful instrument. I got a lot of photos before the sale, sound samples (more on this) and specifically asked about the intonation to see if they really know how to check for that because that could be a killer to deal with. In my case, I received the uke and was all excited. Stunning visually, and when I tuned it up, it sounded fantastic. HOWEVER it was in tune only with open notes. As soon as you fretted the strings it sounded WAY OFF and the tuner confirmed my worst fear. The intonation was so off there was nothing I could do to figure out how to fix it.

Fortnately I have a master luthier near me who used to make $30,000.00 guitars and now is one of the top custom electric violin makers and instrument repair guys around. A great guy to have as a friend! So we get it on the bench and he starts measuring the scale as I told him the scale is definitely whacked. He looks at me and says "Wow"...so I am really stressing now! He usually doesn't say wow. He says the problem is probably unresolvable as the bridge placement was completely off...by a lot. Long story short we put our heads together to figure out how to lengthen the scale because it was too short and I really wanted this rare instrument. We cut the nut in half and converted the tie bridge to a through the body bridge by drilling into the bridge at the bottom of the bridge to get that distance we needed. He inserted a patch under the bridge to make sure it was reinforced for that type of design. The uke went from being completely unplayable in tune to an instrument that can now be tuned. The beauty is you would never know because it looks like everything is normal aesthetically. I got damn lucky. I am certain the person who sold it must of known about this but never disclosed it.

Fortunately, the cost to fix it was only slightly more than sending it back to Hawaii, so I paid to get the work done and now have a very rare gem of a long scale William King Honduran tenor which sounds and plays amazing. Oh, this was my first custom bought many many years ago when I didn't know how to properly ask certain questions to limit my risk especially on intonation. So, if you are buying blind, really dig into the intonation as that's going to be the thing that could cause you a major headache. Also string buzz, same issue. That is definitely easier to fix than a major intonation issue like I had but may take work on the nut, or saddle, or frets, so if you don't know how to do that and have the proper tools, it's more time and $ getting a luthier to find the problem and dealing with it.

i just acquired an amazing Boat Paddle ML tenor blind but I tend to trust UU brethren who have been here many years with many posts and whom have sold or have a collection of Ukes. The seller from my first custom had only a few posts on UU and wasn't really anyone with a track record so I should of known the risk was higher. Buying blind my first lesson was the most painful, but now I know what I am doing and can really minimize my risk. Buying without trying has netted me some incredibly rare Ukes that had I had the philosophy of never buying without trying, I'd be lacking some incredible instruments.

i hope this helps anyone reading this who has to buy without playing. It's funny, people say "I would never buy without trying" which means you should never order a custom uke because you can't play it before it's built and shipped to you. ;)
 
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I do fully comprehend the issues with custom instruments, as an experienced player this is a chosen risk or reward. Been there, done that.

It's the budget minded and the hurry mode that causes slip ups. Expediency can trip us all.
Ordering from a drop ship store may get you a good one or a dud.

Return policies are a good idea anyway, but how many times do you want to schlep back to ups for a return?
Time is money, money is time, but there are no guarantees unless you do your homework.
 
SallyS, I would be curious about some of the brands that you would avoid vs some that surprised you on the good side. Also, I'm hoping to buy my daughter a uke soon, she's just turning 4 so no hurry, but I'm wondering what you ended up with. (preferably something that comes in blue?)
 
Blodzom, I think you can find a blue one:). I started at the bottom of the price range and kept going until my ears agreed. I tried a lot of Kala, some Pono, Lanikai, Fender, Gretsch, Ohana, Kamoa and found all to be different. Didnʻt surprise me, but the dead ones did. I am always a bit shocked to find dead instruments, or sour. I saw finish work that could have been done by a child. The ears are in charge though. The Sopranos were sweet!

Each one of the purchased meant at least four or more instruments were tested and given thumbs down.

I was both impressed on some and saddened by others. It was a lot of fun, just glad I had the opportunity.





What did I buy?
Kala Mahoghany KA-15S-H1, a KA-P Pineapple, a Kala KA-8 tenor 8, a Fender PIHA'EU.
When all was said and done I had a Kamoa E3-P and a KoAloha Concert. Had I been so inclined I would have added a Kala cedar top tenor and two more sopranos.
 
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Great research and report, Sally. Unfortunately, quality control and consistency are only empty words at times, victims of cost containment and quick-to-market. While it's always better to 'Try before you buy,' most music retailers aren't ukulele folks, so setup, intonation, etc. can be a crap shoot. Unless you're fortunate to have a 'uke shop' nearby, Mim, Uke Republic and HMS are all quality, KNOWLEDGEABLE ukulele retailers!
 
Jmort847 - exactly my point.
I canʻt say which brand is ʻbetterʻ, just what I found.
 
Yes, your ears are the most important tool for selecting a ukulele. A case in point is that what sounds good to my, old high frequency challenged, ears may sound different to someone with better ears even though the build quality and setup are on target.
 
When I took up the uke, I had been playing guitar for a number of years and had been exposed to and owned a good number of higher end acoustic guitars.

When I started looking at higher end ukes, I encountered quite a few with fairly poor fit and finish...bad masking of the fretboard prior to finish, chipout around the top and rosette perimeters, poorly joined purfling miters, poorly cut inlay etc...none of these were b stock and most were in the $1-2k price point....a few even higher.
 
When I took up the uke, I had been playing guitar for a number of years and had been exposed to and owned a good number of higher end acoustic guitars.

When I started looking at higher end ukes, I encountered quite a few with fairly poor fit and finish...bad masking of the fretboard prior to finish, chipout around the top and rosette perimeters, poorly joined purfling miters, poorly cut inlay etc...none of these were b stock and most were in the $1-2k price point....a few even higher.

Thanks for your input. Are you talking about custom builds or K brands, or factory built when you speak of poor fit and finish.
 
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